How Old Is the Universe?David A. Weintraub

David Weintraub’s book, How Old Is the Universe?, is ideally suited for use as a supplementary or main text in an introductory astronomy or astrophysics course. Weintraub’s book makes several unique offerings to the pedagogical literature:

Uses the idea of answering a single, fundamental question about the universe to help students place an enormous amount of basic astrophysical information into context. Each and every new idea and concept – e.g., radioactivity, parallax, the inverse square law, spectral lines, redshifts, the H-R diagram, variable stars, nuclear fusion, stellar evolution, degenerate matter, white dwarfs, supernovae, the big bang, the cosmic microwave background, the expanding universe, dark matter, dark energy, the accelerating universe – very clearly builds on the previous one and leads the reader closer to understanding the answer to the title question.

Explains cutting-edge astronomy and astrophysics concepts without jargon and without mathematics.

Uses a historical approach to illustrate the concept of progress in science, showing how every generation of astronomers corrects mistakes and confirms discoveries made by their predecessors to improve humanity’s understanding of the physical universe.

Introduces readers to a large number of important figures in the history of astronomy.